Teaching From Rest by Sarah Mackenzie

 Welcome to week 21 of Blogging Through the Alphabet 2021. I can't believe there are only six weeks left in this round.  Today my co-host Desiree is sharing T is for Tensegrity over at Our Homeschool Notebook.

As a veteran homeschooling mom I was feeling very burnt out a couple of years ago. A homeschool friend blessed me with a copy of the first edition of Teaching from Rest A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie. I came away feeling refreshed and renewed.  I added it to my Audible play list in which Sarah reads the book to her audience. Each time I spend listening to a portion I feel a sense of ease in my homeschooling journey.  Sarah has encouraged me in a deep abiding way. Her conversational tone is a balm to all home educating Mom's the world over. I have learnt so much from Sarah about living and teaching from a state of rest and what it truly means to do so. This book is empowering.

Teaching From Rest

A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace

Second Edition

• Author: Sarah Mackenzie
• Pages: 112
• Language: English
• ISBN 1600512879
• Available in paperback and Kindle

Contents:

Introduction: I Shouldn't Have Written This Book 

Before You Read This Book 

Part One: Whose "Well Done" Are You Working For?

• The Cake Under The Couch 
• Why Your Daily Grind Is Holy Ground
• Bring Your Basket

Part Two: Curriculum Is Not Something You Buy

• How to Simplify the Curriculum
• How to Simplify the Schedule
• The Right Thing at the Right Time 

Part Three: Be Who You Are!

• The Truth about You
• The Truth about Them
• Walking on Water

Afterword

Resources

Teaching from Rest Companion Journal and Audio Collection

Recommended Resources

Bibliography

About the Author

What book has greatly impacted you on your homeschooling journey?

Chareen

Find the other ABC posts in this series here:

1. A is for Art Lessons at Home
2. B is for Books Where do You Purchase Yours? 
3. Charlotte Mason a Round Up of Posts 
4. Delight Directed Education
5. Encouragement for Weary Homeschooling Mothers
6. For the Children's Sake  
7. G is for Geography
8. Homeschool Bloggers  
9. Instagramers to follow who are homeschooling
10. Joy in Your Homeschool Journey
11. Know Yourself - Stop the Comparison Game  
12. Life Skills in Your Homeschool
13. Math Resource for Home Education
14. Netflix in Your Homeschool
15. Olympics 2021
16. P is for Podcasts  
17. Quintessentially Homeschool
    
18. Read-A-Loud in Your Homeschool
19. Science in Your Homeschool
20. Teaching From Rest by Sarah Mackenzie 

Featured from last week the letter P...

• S is for Sea and S is for States (board games) over at Our Homeschool Notebook 
  
• Quilter ~ (composers ABC) from At Home: Where Life Happens
• Letter S Homeschool Tips from Homeschooling Highway 
• Discovering the "S" rabbits of the world of the World over At Home Pets.
• Shelving Baby Rabbits and S is for Skating over at A Net in Time.

This Week over at Our Homeschool Notebook the topic is T is for Tensegrity 

 

Please link up your posts starting with the letter T for this weeks ABC Blogging

Science in Your Homeschool

 Science in your homeschool can be filled with loads of fun adventures in your kitchen and beyond.  When I was a member of the Homeschool Review Crew we  reviewed some amazing science curriculums however the one thing I found is that you don't need an official curriculum to enjoy learning about the science of the world around you.  Science is a subject that is huge in scope from every day science in your kitchen to working in a laboratory. Do not forget to tap into field trips such as going to the museum, look for community expo's or watching programs like Kill it, Cut it, Use it.

Define: Science

• The word science comes from the Latin "scientia," meaning knowledge especially knowledge based on reproducible data.
• Science is the systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation. 

From this definition we can see that science is not solely about science labs and microscopes, formulas and chemicals it's all about the world around us. The sciences need not fill you with fear the high school years can be a wonderful time of learning alongside your students and discovering amazing things together.

Experiment 8 - Colorful Flowers

More on Science on this blog:

• Visual Periodic Table
• Science Curriculum Options
• FREE Science Resources
• Science in High School take a look at THIS POST

Curriculum we have reviewed:

• Australian Nature Study 
• Exploring the Building Blocks of Science.
• Web Design - Compu Scholar
• The 101 Series - These DVD's are fabulous!  LOVE them.
• Science Unit Studies For Homeschoolers
• Visual Learning Systems 
• Science4US

Kitchen Experiments

• Crystal Snow Flake tutorial - grow your own crystals in your kitchen. 
• Raise Silkworms at home.
• Organic Mini Mushrooms in your home.
• Eat Your Science Homework  
• Science at Home 
• Compost in a Bottle Science Experiment.
• Bake something.
• Make an erupting volcano.
• Grow an Alfalfa Sprout Head
• Make homemade Flubber

Books 

• Eat Your Science Homework
• Science Unit Studies For Homeschoolers
• Solar Systems A Visual Exploration
• The Elements A Visual Exploration
• The Burgess Bird Book for Children
• Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes
• How We Make Stuff
• Space
• The Solar System
• First Encyclopedia of the Human Body
• See How It's Made
• What Makes You Ill?
• Science Activities, Vol. 1
• The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks
• Why Do People Eat?
• The Usborne World Of Animals
• Night Animals
• Magic Schoolbus books are a wonderful addition to your science book library. Join Miss Frizzle for many fun filled scientific journeys.
• We have also enjoyed The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature Topics covered are: Almanac (seasons, weather, and astronomy), Nature Guide (plants, animals, and earth science) and Science Fair (machines, matter, and energy).

On the WWW

• Science in the Kitchen on Pinterest
• Cooking with Kids on Pinterest
• Make a Gingerbread House for the holidays. {Part 1, Part 2, Part 3}
• 7 tips for cooking with kids over at Crayon Freckles
• 16 Kitchen Safety Tips for Children over at Just Mommies
• Kitchen Science Experiments over at About.com
• Kitchen Science over at The Naked Scientists
• Home Science Tools The Gateway to Discovery 
• Teaching Kids Science in the Kitchen: Tips to get talking about Science

On YouTube

• Smarter Every Day Channel. The very first clip we saw was Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps. Destin covers really interesting topics covered and explained in layman's terms and if he uses scientific jargon he is careful to explain it.
• For fun we visit the Slo Mo Guys. On this channel, Gavin Free and Dan Gruchy take a $150,000 high speed camera to show you the world hundreds of times slower than you can see with your own eyes. . One of our favourite videos is Giant 6ft Water Balloon
• The Super Slow Show by the Slo Mo Guys brings on science educators to explain what is happening in the experiments 

Our Microscope

You do not NEED a microscope to enjoy science at home but if you are able to save up and purchase one it opens up a whole new world for you and your children to enjoy. A few years back I spent a long time researching microscope options and settled on the Sonlight's Variable Voltage Microscope. You can read all about it's technical specifications and watch a YouTube walk through.

If you are living in Australia you can not order in science specimens they will not be allowed past customs. If you are wanting to purchase dissection specimens you can order them from Southern Biological in Melbourne. They also stock a full range of items for science use at home and they also ship to New Zealand.

In the USA I highly recommend Sonlight's science resourcesand the resource kits from Rainbow Resources.

What are you using that I could I add to this list ?

Chareen

Find the other ABC posts in this series here:

1. A is for Art Lessons at Home
2. B is for Books Where do You Purchase Yours? 
3. Charlotte Mason a Round Up of Posts 
4. Delight Directed Education
5. Encouragement for Weary Homeschooling Mothers
6. For the Children's Sake  
7. G is for Geography
8. Homeschool Bloggers  
9. Instagramers to follow who are homeschooling
10. Joy in Your Homeschool Journey
11. Know Yourself - Stop the Comparison Game  
12. Life Skills in Your Homeschool
13. Math Resource for Home Education
14. Netflix in Your Homeschool
15. Olympics 2021
16. P is for Podcasts  
17. Quintessentially Homeschool
    
18. Read-A-Loud in Your Homeschool
19. Science in Your Homeschool

Featured from last week the letter P...

• R is for Race Car and R is for Rummikub over at Our Homeschool Notebook 
  
• Quilter ~ (composers ABC) from At Home: Where Life Happens
• Letter R Homeschool Tips from Homeschooling Highway 
• Discovering the R Rabbits of the World over At Home Pets.

This Week over at Our Homeschool Notebook the topic is S is for Sea creatures 

 

Please link up your posts starting with the letter S for this weeks ABC Blogging

Read-A-Loud in your Homeschool

 Reading out loud is one of the biggest gifts I received as a homeschooler.  I have the most precious memories of cuddling on the couch with my young children working our way together through our latest story. I was thrilled to find a move called Read Aloud Revival by Sarah M.  She also host an amazing Read-Aloud podcast to encourage you.

"Every child ought to know the pleasure of words so well chosen that they awaken sensibility, great emotions, and understanding of truth "- Gladys Hunt

Over the years here on the blog I have shared numerous of our favourite read out loud books under

•  the Tuesday's Treasures tag I always feel nostalgic when I browse through these selections.
• 5 Days of Australian Literature
• 5 Days of Picture Books
• 3 Books on Aspergers Syndrome
• Our Top six Favourite Chapter Read A Loud
• Our 10 Favourite Caldecott Medal Books
  
• 13 Books to Read at Christmas

What's my all time Favourite Read A Loud ?

Oh my I have a few that have really impacted me.  I think top of the list would be Carry On Mr Bowditch. I so enjoyed this read aloud from Sonlight that I took out our encyclopedia to research him and all it had was a few lines with a reference to this book as the definitive work on the man.

Help where do I start finding great books to read out loud to my family?

• Sonlight Catalogue 
• Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt
• A comprehensive list of Books We have Enjoyed
• Book List Resources I have used.
• Read-Aloud Revival Booklists

A side note on Learning to read: 

While reading out loud to our children is important as it imparts so many linguistic skills to our children.  One of the most often asked questions is how to teach children to read or why is my child still not able to read?! There are multiple factors that influence your children's ability to learn to read. I wrote a mini five part series on this a few years ago.

The series is not about the different methods used to teach reading but rather about some of the factors that influence a students ability to learn to read.  

• Factors influencing Learning to Read - part 1
• Factors influencing Learning to Read - part 2 
• Factors influencing Learning to Read - part 3
• Factors influencing Learning to Read - part 4
• Factors influencing Learning to Read - part 5

What are some of YOUR favourite Read-A-Louds ? 

Chareen

Find the other ABC posts in this series here:

1. A is for Art Lessons at Home
2. B is for Books Where do You Purchase Yours? 
3. Charlotte Mason a Round Up of Posts 
4. Delight Directed Education
5. Encouragement for Weary Homeschooling Mothers
6. For the Children's Sake  
7. G is for Geography
8. Homeschool Bloggers  
9. Instagramers to follow who are homeschooling
10. Joy in Your Homeschool Journey
11. Know Yourself - Stop the Comparison Game  
12. Life Skills in Your Homeschool
13. Math Resource for Home Education
14. Netflix in Your Homeschool
15. Olympics 2021
16. P is for Podcasts  
17. Quintessentially Homeschool
    
18. Read-A-Loud in Your Homeschool

Featured from last week the letter Q...

• Q is for quit and Q is for Qwirkle over at Our Homeschool Notebook 
  
• Quilter ~ (composers ABC) from At Home: Where Life Happens
• Letter Q Homeschool Tips from Homeschooling Highway 

This Week over at Our Homeschool Notebook the topic is R is for Race Cars 

 

Please link up your posts starting with the letter R for this weeks ABC Blogging